Here are the picks from Jason Brough, James O’Brien, Joe Yerdon, Ryan Dadoun, Cam Tucker and yours truly for who’ll be golden at the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi…

Brough

Gold Medal Game: Canada beats Sweden

I’m keeping this simple. The two best teams on paper playing for gold. The best team on paper winning gold. Yeah, yeah, I know the best teams on paper don’t always win, but a lot of the times they do. Like in 2010, for example. Even without Steven Stamkos, Team Canada is still stacked up front, and there’s no matching its blue line. Goaltending could be problematic, but no team is without a potential Achilles’ heel. Canada’s goaltending could also end up being quite good.

Bronze Medal Game: United States beats Russia

Not the game the hosts wanted to play in, and it will show when they lose it. The fan in me hopes I’m wrong, because the Russians playing for gold at home would be a sight to behold. I just don’t think they’ve got the depth to make it that far.

O’Brien

Gold medal game: Canada beats Russia

As powerful as Russia’s offense and home-ice advantage will be, Canada is so deep and dynamic that even a seasoned nitpicker would struggle to uncover sore spots.

Bronze medal game: United States beats Sweden

Several other hockey powers have receded*, so the bronze comes down to a coin toss between Sweden and the U.S. Tre Kronor’s D combo of Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson should make gorgeous music, but for some reason I have trouble betting against Team USA. That reason rhymes with Patrick Kane.

* – Points at Czech Republic

Yerdon

Gold medal game: United States beats Sweden

I’ll be plain about this: I’m making a very homer pick. Deal with it. That said, Team USA has a team very capable of winning gold. The offense is solid, the defense has strengths and the goaltending is great. The Americans’ speed on the big ice will be a major factor. The Swedes will be excellent but American brawn and nastiness will win out.

Bronze Medal Game: Russia beats Canada

Am I trolling? No. Well, maybe. Still, the Russians wants payback and they’ll be angry after not getting a shot at gold. They’ll want (need?) hardware and getting out of Canada makes for a perfect script. Except, you know, in the bronze medal game.

Dadoun

Gold Medal Game: Sweden beats Russia

At home and with the advantage of the bigger ice surface, I think Russia is going to end up doing very well in this tournament. That being said, Sweden has a significantly stronger defense and a more reliable goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist. Losing Johan Franzen and Henrik Sedin hurts, but the Swedes’ offense is still strong, making them a balanced squad.

Bronze Medal Game: Canada beats the United States

It’s 2010 all over again, but with the stakes lowered. The States’ goaltending and defense is capable of frustrating Canada, but in the end Canada’s legion of skilled forwards will be hard to contain.

Tucker

Gold medal game: Canada beats Russia

It would be the dream match-up. The Russians will certainly be motivated to win gold, not just because they are the host nation of these Olympics but how their competition came to an end four years ago in Vancouver. It would also pit two of the game’s best players against each other, in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Canada’s goaltending is the obvious question mark if it hopes to repeat as gold medal champions. But the depth up front and on defence should help nullify any potential short-comings in the crease.

Bronze medal game: Sweden beats Finland

Sweden’s lineup is as stacked as any in this tournament, even with Sedin and Franzen out due to injury. That should help the Swedes get back to the medal podium in men’s hockey in Sochi, and they’ll defeat their most fierce rivals, Finland, in the process.

Halford

Gold medal game: Canada beats United States

I’m along the same simple lines as Brough — two best teams playing for gold, though I think the Americans are better than the Swedes; more in-form snipers (Phil Kessel, Joe Pavelski and James van Riemsdyk, most notably) and hard-skating forwards will get the U.S. to the final. In the end, however, Canada’s unparalleled depth on defense will be too much to overcome.

Bronze medal game: Sweden beats Russia

I saw the Russians as the fourth-best team heading into the Olympics, and that’s how I see it finishing. Major reservations about their blueline and bottom-six forwards; Sweden has the more complete team and stronger/more experienced goaltending with Lundqvist.

The New York Islanders made a splash on Friday, signing veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck to a five-year, $17.5 million extension — one that carries a $3.5 million average annual cap hit through 2023.

Clutterbuck, 29, has two goals and nine points through 25 games this year, while averaging 15:26 TOI per night (his highest average since joining the Isles four years ago). As per usual, he leads the club in hits — one of the staples of his game — and serves as one of the club’s alternate captains.

This new contract represents a nice raise for the former Minnesota Wild man. His last contract, set to expire in July, was of the four-year, $11 million variety, and carried a $2.75 million cap hit.

This contract also resembles the one GM Garth Snow gave another of the club’s role forwards. This summer, Casey Cizikas signed a five-year, $16.75 million extension — one with a $3.35 million hit — despite the fact he’d never scored more than 30 points in a season, or averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time.

This style of spending — along with splashes made for free agent disappointments Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd — is sure to raise some questions. The Isles opted not to spend that money on retaining two of their key players from a season ago, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo, and the club has struggled to find its form through the first quarter of this year.

“We’re not going to give out any numbers now,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday, per Yahoo Sports. “The cap could range from where it is now to a couple or so million up, but we’re all going to have to focus on what makes the most sense moving forward.”

The salary cap only went up slightly for the current season, from $71.4 million to $73 million. The only slight increase was due to the lower Canadian dollar, which negatively impacted last season’s league revenues by “$100 or 200 million,” Bettman said earlier this year.

The loonie has been holding relatively steady for around half a year. It’s currently worth $0.76 USD and has been helped by the recent oil rally.

A flat salary cap would be bad news for big spenders like the Chicago Blackhawks, who still need to get Artemi Panarin signed to an extension. The Los Angeles Kings could also be forced to make some tough decisions, as they’ve got Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson in need of new deals. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have key RFAs in Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz, and Conor Sheary.

Henrik Lundqvist has set such a high bar that his 12-8-1 record with a .912 save percentage is cause for great concern these days in New York.

That his backup, Antti Raanta, is 6-1-0 with a .932 save percentage only contributes to that concern, because if Raanta can manage those numbers, what’s Lundqvist’s excuse?

“I feel like I’m tracking the puck well, moving well,” Lundqvist told the Daily News. “It just comes down to some bad decisions at times that cost me.”

Indeed, December has not started well for The King. He’s allowed 10 goals in three starts for a save percentage of .894. In Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders, his decision to poke check a loose puck led to the winning goal by Andrew Ladd.